Any business, especially a small business, needs repeat customers to
survive. To achieve this, a business needs to offer excellent customer
service. Great customer service is essential to help small businesses
attract and retain the customers they need to survive and compete against
the big boys, and more so in a downturn economy.(article continued below ...)
We interviewed Kathy Doering, President of market research agency Ann Michaels & Associates, Ltd.
http://www.ishopforyou.com/ ,
on the importance of customer service to a company. Kathy is well entrenched
in the business of customer service as her company offers various market
research services such as mystery shopping, phone
and web based surveys, social media monitoring, call center capabilities
along with data mining and PHD level analysis offerings.
How important is customer service to the success of a business?
Kathy: Customer service is the lifeline of any business. Business owners spend
large amounts of time and money to win new customers but yet they don’t do
much to insure that the customer is well taken care of once they arrive.
Making sure your new customers turn into loyal customer is critical to a
company’s success. Loyal customers create “word of mouth” advertising which
is the best form of marketing a company can do.
How can a small business leverage customer service to compete
effectively?
Kathy: Small Business owners should consider offering their loyal customers
something to thank them for their patronage. Little touches go a long way
and they don’t have to be expensive. Sending a personal email alerting a
loyal customer of a sale before the general public learns of it is a great
way to personalize service. Give customers the Disney experience whenever
you can. Gather ideas from your employees. Since they deal with your
customers on a day to day basis, they may have some create ideas to share as
well.
Why is it important to get feedback at how a business is doing in terms
of customer service?
Kathy: It is one of the best things a company can do for growth. Gathering
feedback from your middle customers is critical. The middle customer is
where most customers fall, neither extremely happy nor unhappy. Many times
companies feel that if they place comment cards on a counter or have a
standard feedback form on their website, this will be enough to gather the
opinions and feelings of their customers. However, most of the time this
will only give you feedback from one extreme or another; either your raving
fans or very unhappy customers. Most people fall in between somewhere. That
is where the real feedback is and where you can learn the most about your
customers.
How can a small business determine the quality of customer service they
provide?
Kathy: By continually measuring it by hiring a third party to perform the
inspections and sharing the results with their staff on a regular basis, it
will help to instill a customer service culture within their business. When
employees are aware of such programs they will perform better. What gets
measured gets done. What tools can a small business use to get feedback from
their customers?
Mystery Shopping, IVR Surveys (toll-free phone number survey), website
surveys, intercept interviews are the most effective as ongoing
measurements.
How can a small business use these tools to improve customer service?
Kathy: They use the tools as a way to constantly improve and get better. Our
clients see an increase in revenue. It gives them an opportunity to reward
good behavior and continue to train employees to make them better – not just
in the area of product knowledge, but customer service training and sales
training as well. One of our restaurant clients used their mystery shopping
program as a way to increase appetizer sales. They developed an employee
contest revolving around the sales of their Duck Tenders Appetizer. If the
shoppers were asked if they wanted to try the Duck Tenders the server would
win “ducky” type items like a new down comforter. Duck Tender sales went up
and it was fun for the employees as well!
What advice can you give to small businesses that are looking to improve
their customer service?
Kathy: If they are not already doing so, benchmark the service levels they have
currently. Hire a professional company to help you. Survey design is
critical to any effective program. Don’t use the “do- it- yourself” survey
sites unless you have a degree in market research. It is worth the extra
money to have a company help you create the best survey for your company.
When the results are this important, you want to be sure you are asking the
questions is such a way as to not lead the respondent in any way. This will
give you a true picture of your business. Next, share the results with your
staff. Get their opinions on how to improve. Make it a group effort. Get
their buy in and then explain that you will be conducting this type of
feedback from your customers on a regular basis. This will instill
accountability among staff members and let them know that you mean business
when it comes to customer satisfaction!
Author Bio
Isabel M. Isidro is the Managing Editor of PowerHomeBiz.com. Read her
blog at
PowerHomeBiz Small and Home Business Blog
October 2008
